The importance of page 404 error

What page 404 and the reason for its occurrence?

In the virtual labyrinth of the Internet, perhaps there is no more famous and at the same time mysterious page than page 404. It seems that each of us, at least once in our life, found ourselves in front of its inaccessibility. But what really lies behind these numbers and why is it so common in the virtual space?

Page 404 is an error that occurs when the server cannot find the requested web page. In an HTTP response code such as “404 Not Found”, every number and phrase has its own meaning.

The first number code 404 indicates the error class of the client. This means that the problem is with the user’s browser, not the server. The second number indicates the specific error code in the class, which means that the requested page or resource was not found on the server. The last part of the message “Not Found” simply confirms that the requested resource was not found on the server.

The user may enter the wrong URL or link to a non-existent page. Or veb-master deleted or moved the page to another server, and links to it remained on other sites or in search results.

Sometimes errors in website code or web server settings can cause requests to be incorrectly processed and displayed “404 not found”. Also, some sites may block access to certain pages for users from certain regions.
In any of these cases, when trying to go to a certain link, the user receives that website 404 not found.

Does page 404 affect SEO?

Creating an effective website is not complete without taking into account the influence of 404 errors on SEO. Although page 404 seems unfavorable, it can have both a positive and a negative effect on the search engine optimization of your site.

Search traffic and indexing

If your site is often issued with an error 404, PageRank may be incorrectly distributed among other pages, which may affect their ranking in search results. Accordingly, this leads to a loss of organic traffic.

Impact on user experience

When the user receives error 404, it can lead to a negative impression of your site. A bad user experience can affect your target audience’s relationship with your brand or site.

Loss of partners

If other online platforms link to pages that do not exist on your site, this can lead to the loss of important links and the authority of your site, which will decrease conversion rates. Also, partners will think your site is ineffective or unreliable due to persistent 404 errors, they may decide to stop or limit their cooperation with you, which may result in the loss of valuable opportunities for your business.

Page 404 is displayed as an indicator of the health of your site for search engines. It helps to avoid wrong indexing and ranking degradation by providing proper direction and information to search engines.

Why do you need a 404 page

Notifying users of an error

Error 404 allows users to be clearly informed that the page they were looking for was not found. This helps to avoid the misunderstanding and irritation that can arise from simply displaying an error without any explanation.

Improving the user experience

Instead of just displaying a generic error, page 404 may provide users with useful information and links for site navigation. It improves with general site interaction experience and can increase the likelihood that users will stay on your platform.

Saving traffic

Page 404 can help keep traffic on your website even if a user accidentally links to a non-existent page. Instead of simply leaving this site, users can find other interesting pages or use the search to find the information they want.

Error correction

If there are links to non-existent pages on your site, it is better to remove them altogether, but if it is not possible to clean the site at the moment,then it is necessary to create a certain page 404 and temporarily show it to visitors. 

So, the information page “404 not found” is an important element of the correct operation of the site, which helps to improve the user experience and maintain traffic on your resource.

How to solve the problem with the emergence of 404 errors?

• Check all URLs on your site to make sure there are no broken links or non-existent pages.
• If the page has been renamed or moved, redirect from the old URL to the new one. This will help users using the old links to automatically go to the new pages.
• If code 404 is caused by technical problems on your server or software, fix them or contact your server administrator for help.

By following these steps, you can effectively solve the appearance problem of 404 errors and improve the user experience on your site.

What should a good 404 page look like?

When creating page 404 it is important to remember some key points that will help make it useful and friendly to the user.

First, you should reassure the user and show that he got where he wanted, but the information is not available for some reason. You can add a link to the main page of your site or other popular pages. This will allow users to easily navigate to other parts of your site.

A brief explanation of why it occurred should also be given error 404. For example, “The page you searched for may have been removed or moved.” This will allow users to understand the essence of the problem and calm down. However, there is no need to explain in technical terms or complicate a large amount of data. On the contrary, it scares the person even more, and he will run to your competitors.

Third, you can specify contact information for contacting the site administrator or support if users have questions or suggestions. This will allow a person to feel his importance and need, which will significantly reduce the feeling of being lost.

And the last, but most important aspect of creating a good one page 404 – this is a creative design and nice graphics. Try to make page 404 interesting and attractive with the help of certain pictures or inscriptions. For example, you can add animation or a bit of humor to make the person happy with your customer care.
In general, your main goal is to make page 404 useful and pleasant for users, give them the opportunity to easily navigate your site even in case of errors.

Need help creating page 404?

Creating an effective page 404 can be a key aspect of your SEO strategy and user experience. Our SEObanda team knows that messages “404 not found” can be not only a mistake, but also an opportunity to save important visitors to your site. We will help you create a unique one page 404, which will not only inform customers of the error, but also reassure them and provide ways to navigate the site. Contact us for effective 404 errors on your website!